Infinity - Part 2
Continued from last newsletter…
Perhaps you haven’t seen this kind of God (a God of infinite, unchanging, unselfish love) in the Bible. Perhaps you have always read the Bible with selfish lenses, interpreting God’s motives as selfish. After all, God does say, “For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.” Isaiah 48:11. And He does say, “Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; (For the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.” Deuteronomy 6:14-15.
God is the center of all praise, “Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.” Psalm 150:6. And God is the center of all service, “all dominions shall serve and obey him.” Daniel 7:27. How can God do things for His own sake, be jealous enough to destroy, be the center of all praise and service, and be selfless at the same time? Doesn’t all of this evidence point to the fact that He is selfish?
Let us, rather, ask the question, “If God is unselfish, how can these statements be harmonized with His unselfishness?” How can God do things for His own sake and keep glory to Himself and be unselfish? How can He be jealous enough to destroy those who don’t worship Him and be unselfish? You can either be jealous for self’s sake, or you can be jealous for another’s sake. It can never be both at the same time. So, is God’s jealousy here for Him? Or for us?
God is infinite. The enemy is not. Therefore, any alternative to God is infinitely less than God Himself. So, to choose anything other than God as your source is to choose something that is infinitely less able to supply your need than God is. Those things that call for our worship, other than God, come from the enemy. So, if we worship anything else, we are worshipping the enemy. You can never be fundamentally different than that which your worship, so if we worship anything other than God, we can’t help but be like the enemy. God is the only source that is truly good, and only by worshipping Him can we be good.
God desires us to be good. He wants us to live and be happy. And the only way that can happen is if He is the only one we worship. So, for our sakes, He desires to be our only source. He is jealous that He might be our only source because He knows that if we take any other source, it will destroy us.
And He does things for His own sake for us. How? He must maintain Himself and His name as trustworthy. If He didn’t, we wouldn’t have anyone to trust in. So, for us to know that we can trust in Him, He does things for His own sake or His name’s sake. It isn’t for Him. It is for us that He maintains His trustworthiness.
Why is God the center of all praise? As noted above, if we worship (praise) anything else, we will become like what we praise and worship. By beholding, we become changed. God is the only one worthy of our praise, the only one that we should be like, the only one that is the perfect example for us to follow. He cannot just step down and defer the praise and worship to anything else, because to do so would degrade and destroy us. So, for our sake, He is the center of all praise and worship.
And why is God the center of all service? Why does He have all things serve Him? It is because God is humble and always takes the lowest place when He can. True greatness is not to be served. True greatness is to serve. You are not great if you have many servants. You are great if you serve many. God could easily keep all service to Himself and serve everything. But He doesn’t do that because He wants to make His creatures great. Therefore, He gives them the greatness of serving, and He takes the humble position of being served. It can be no other way for a selfless God on the throne.
Satan accused God of being the center of everything for selfish reasons. God does not argue. Nor does He answer accusations by simple statements. God allows the accusations to be demonstrated, so that the outcome proves whether the accusation was correct or not. And God, as God, could not refute the accusation of His selfish motivation by His own demonstration. God could not come down from the throne and give glory to another. He could not stop being jealous that He might be the center of all worship. He could not stop being the center of all service, for if He did, all His creatures would be destroyed.
But when God the Son clothed Himself with humanity and entered into the life of a creature, we see Jesus always deferring praise and worship from Himself to His father. We see Jesus always serving. We see Jesus always jealous for His Father’s honor, never for His own. We see Jesus never fighting for His own rights. We see Jesus always thinking of and looking out for the good of others to the point of sacrificing Himself for them. As a creature, Jesus could clearly manifest unselfish love so that everyone could understand it. And, revealing that He was only representing His father, the universe could then see that the Father’s motivation was also selfless, self-sacrificing, for the good of others and not for His own good. The life of Jesus gave the demonstration that was needed to answer the accusation of Satan, showing that it was false. God was love—selfless love.
God is not only love. “for the Lord our God is righteous…” Daniel 9:14. How righteous is God? Infinitely righteous. His righteousness cannot change. If we are unrighteous, He is still righteous toward us. His thoughts of us are righteous. His actions toward us are righteous. Everything about Him is righteous—infinitely righteous.
How much more power does God have than the devil? Infinitely more power. In fact, all the power the devil has comes from God. So, is God intimidated by the devil? Not at all! The devil and evil are no threat to God, for something that is infinite can never be threatened by something that is finite. So, in the midst of the chaos of sin and evil, God has peace. How much peace? Infinite peace. Can that infinite peace be disturbed? No! If it were only for His sake, God could coexist with sin forever and still be at perfect peace. He will not destroy sin for His sake. He will destroy it for our sake.
How much forbearance and patience does God have? Infinite forbearance and patience. What, then, can overbear God’s forbearance and patience? Nothing! There can never be an intensity of evil or duration of evil that would cause God’s forbearance and patience to come to an end. God does not destroy the wicked because He has had enough—because He can’t take it anymore. He didn’t bring the flood on the earth or destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because He couldn’t stand the wickedness anymore. That will never happen.
God destroys the wicked for their sake—because it is hell to live infected with selfishness and sin. It is mercy for the ones infected with sin to be destroyed so that they don’t have to continue living infected with sin. Destruction comes when there is no more hope of rescuing any of the wicked from sin and restoring them to righteousness. When that hope is gone, it is mercy to end their existence rather than to extend it longer with only increasingly evil outcomes.
God is merciful and just. How merciful and just is He? He is infinitely merciful and infinitely just. He cannot change His mercy, neither can He change His justice. He cannot annul the punishment for sin, for infinite justice demands an exact payment. But His infinite mercy found a way to set the repentant sinner free. Not by annulling His justice. But by Jesus becoming the object of infinite justice and paying the exact payment that each sin requires. In Jesus, the price for every sin that was ever committed and every sin that will ever be committed by every one that has or will ever commit sin, was paid in full. Infinite mercy found a way to maintain infinite justice and yet set the repentant sinner free. Praise God!
God has forgiveness for the sinner. How much forgiveness? Infinite forgiveness! There is no sin that is too evil, repeated too often, continued too long, or committed in combination with too many other sins for God to forgive. Impossible! Sin is finite. Forgiveness is infinite. There is nothing that you can ever do that will exhaust God’s forgiveness for you. His forgiveness is perfect, infinite, unchangeable, inexhaustible, and it is freely offered to you right now. Will you take it, or will you walk away from it? Will you accept the gift? Or will you try to pay the price yourself? Will you believe in God’s infinite unchanging nature? His love for you will never change. It can never change. And He wants to give you His infinity.
Remember what happens when infinity is added to anything? What does it become? It becomes infinity. When infinity is added to anything, it turns that thing into infinity. In Jesus, God added His infinity to man’s “finity,” thus making the combination infinite. In Jesus, we are given the opportunity to be united to Infinity forever. Will you accept that great privilege, the privilege of infinitely being united with Infinity? The gift is offered to you, not because of how you behave, not because of how good you are, not because of what you can do for God, but simply because He loves you with an infinite love that cannot change. It is offered to you because you need it, and He wants you to have it. Will you take that gift right now?
Renovations
We were tremendously blessed to have Dave Upham join us for a week and help us reroof the office/studio, put a new door on our barn, and help drywall one of the rooms in our home. Thank you, Dave!
RV Area / Guest Housing
We have been tremendously blessed to have a property with an existing pavilion with two bathrooms, and six 30-amp RV outlets. This was built on the property over 20 years ago, so much has decayed in the interim. The pavilion roof is past time for replacement. The bathrooms have been chewed up by dogs (yes, by dogs). Trees have grown up around the 30-amp outlets. The gravel has been covered by moss and grass, and the woods have reclaimed much of what was cleared 20 years ago.
We have been praying about how to have space for you and others to come and visit, and we have decided that what we will do is reclaim the existing area and turn it into our RV / Guest Housing area. The best we can do with the little funds that we have is to try to clear enough so that we can purchase a used camper / travel trailer to use as guest housing until we are at a place financially that we can build something permanent.
Brian Barnhurst has been helping us with the electrical and water portions of this project. We have cut down trees (my back is sore from all the chainsaw work), dug trenches (I learned how to operate a mini excavator) and added conduit and water lines, and will be removing stumps, leveling the RV spots, and adding gravel. When we are done, we will have four 50-amp, and six 30-amp outlets and water to 10 RV/camping spots in our guest housing area. There is a single dump station near the pavilion currently, which will have to serve all of the RV spots (unless we can somehow get septic to all of the spots).
In the future, we will need to re-roof the pavilion, remodel the existing bathrooms, and then add a laundry room & full-sized kitchen to the pavilion so that visitors can have a comfortable experience at our place.
Farther into the future, we would like to build a 4-room bunk house so that we can temporarily house seminar guests, students, and other visitors who are passing through our area. Please keep these projects in prayer. We will keep moving forward as the Lord opens the way.
Ministry Updates
YouTube
New Paradigm Ministries has a YouTube channel which you can find HERE, and we are uploading ministry-related videos on the site. Check out the progress that we are making on our office/studio HERE. Also, check out what we are doing to develop an RV/camper section of the property for guests HERE. For those who saw our video about the mobile home on our property and commented about whether we should renovate or demolish it, thank you for your input! We have prayerfully considered your advice as well as the Lord’s direction for the ministry, and we have decided to sell/remove/demolish it at some point. When we get the time, we will edit and upload a video about the RV project as well.
Website
The design and layout of our website has been finalized, and the Sabbatech team is working on finalizing it right now. We have seen a preview of the new site and are happy for its progress. So far, we only have the temporary page for a website. Once the new site is up and running (which we are told should be next week), we will start populating it with information (articles, videos, etc.).
Counseling or Health Consultations
Since moving to our new ministry location, we have been privileged to have 97 1-hour consultations or counseling sessions with precious individuals from around the world. If you are struggling with personal, relationship, or health challenges, we are available to counsel with you. Appointments can be scheduled here: https://www.calendly.com/npmin/ Donations are appreciated.
Scheduling Seminars
If you would like to schedule Dr. Sandoval to speak for your church or community, simply contact us at [email protected]
Upcoming Events
March 20-30, 2022
We will have our very first lifestyle and mental health session at our new ministry location in Cabool, Missouri.
We will have our very first lifestyle and mental health session at our new ministry location in Cabool, Missouri.
April 21-30, 2022
Dr. Sandoval will be conducting a Law of Life series for the community in Ava, Missouri.
Dr. Sandoval will be conducting a Law of Life series for the community in Ava, Missouri.
Early May
Dr. Sandoval will most likely be conducting a Law of Life series at the McDonald Road SDA Church in McDonald, Tennessee.
Dr. Sandoval will most likely be conducting a Law of Life series at the McDonald Road SDA Church in McDonald, Tennessee.
May 26-29, 2022
Anthony Sandoval will be leading out in the Southwest Youth Retreat in Claremore, Oklahoma. To register or for more information, visit www.swyr.org
June 13-17, 2022
Dr. Sandoval will be speaking for the Wisconsin Camp Meeting in Oxford, Wisconsin.
Dr. Sandoval will be speaking for the Wisconsin Camp Meeting in Oxford, Wisconsin.
June 29-July 3, 2022
Dr. Sandoval will be speaking for the Red River Outpost Camp Meeting in Stanton, Kentucky.
Dr. Sandoval will be speaking for the Red River Outpost Camp Meeting in Stanton, Kentucky.
July 27-31, 2022
Dr. Sandoval will be speaking for the Hartland Convocation in Rapidan, Virginia.
Dr. Sandoval will be speaking for the Hartland Convocation in Rapidan, Virginia.
July 31-August 7, 2022
Dr. Sandoval will be speaking in Germany for a camp meeting there.
Dr. Sandoval will be speaking in Germany for a camp meeting there.
August 21-28, 2022
Dr. Sandoval will be teaching a Biblical Counseling class in the Coeur d’Alene, Idaho area.
Dr. Sandoval will be teaching a Biblical Counseling class in the Coeur d’Alene, Idaho area.
In Christ,
Mark Sandoval, MD